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DESCRIPTION

Field and object of the invention

The present invention relates to a machine for packaging products of the tobacco industry, particularly snus.

The solution described here has been devised for a particular application in which snus is fed to the packaging machine inside containers (also called pockets).

The object of this solution is to provide a packaging machine capable of transferring the products from the containers into packages being formed inside the machine, without adversely affecting the operating cycle of the machine.

A preferred embodiment of the solution described here relates to a machine for packaging the products in blister packs.

The aforementioned object is achieved by using a packaging machine having the characteristics specified in Claim 1.

The present invention also relates to a method according to Claim 9.

The claims form an integral part of the technical teachings provided herein.

Brief description of the drawings and detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, which refers to the attached drawings provided purely by way of non-limiting example, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the machine described here, in an axonometric view;

- Figure 2 shows a side view of the machine of Figure 1;

- Figure 3 shows an example of a container used in the solution described here;

- Figure 4 shows an example of packaging.

The following description illustrates various specific details intended to provide a deeper understanding of the embodiments. The embodiments may be realized without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components or materials, etc. In other cases, known structures, materials or operations are not shown or described in detail, to avoid obscuring various aspects of the embodiment.

The references used herein are provided purely for convenience and therefore do not define the scope of protection or the extent of the embodiments.

As mentioned above, the packaging machine described here has been devised for a particular application in which the products to be packaged are fed to the packaging machine inside containers.

Inside the containers, the products to be packaged are arranged in groups corresponding to the groups of products to be packaged in the individual packages.

The solution described here transfers the groups of products in the containers to packages or semi-finished packages formed inside said packaging machine.

In a preferred embodiment, the packaging machine described here operates to package the products in blister packs.

Figure 4 shows schematically an example of a blister pack - denoted as a whole by the reference numeral 200 - which has a plurality of cells 200A for receiving a corresponding number of products, each inside a respective cell.

Figure 3 shows an example of a container - indicated as a whole by the reference numeral 100 - used in the operation of the machine described here for transporting products. The container 100 comprises a plurality of compartments 100A, which reproduces the matrix of cells of the package 200.

For example, again with reference to Figures 3 and 4, each compartment 100A may have dimensions LI, L2 that are substantially equal to the dimensions LL, L2’ of the individual cell of the blister pack 200, and the distances L3, L4 between each compartment and the adjacent compartments may be substantially equal to the analogous distances L3 ’ and L4’ between the cells of the blister pack. With reference to Figure 1, in general terms, the machine described here - indicated generally in the figures by the reference numeral 10 - comprises:

- a feeding unit 20 for feeding the packages 200 along a feeding direction Kl;

- a first conveyor 30, which is configured to move a plurality of containers 100 from a loading station (not shown), in which one or more products S are positioned in each container, to a position PI for swapping containers;

- a second conveyor 40, which is positioned downstream of the first conveyor 30, for moving the containers 100 along a ring-like closed path R which starts and terminates at the swapping position PI, the containers 100 leaving full from the swapping position PI and coming back empty to the swapping position PI; the second conveyor 40 conveying the containers 100 through a picking station 50 that is positioned along the ring-like closed path;

- a third conveyor 60, which is configured to move the empty containers 100 from the swapping position PI to the exit station of the machine (not shown);

- a unit 80 for swapping containers, for transferring at least one empty container 100 that is positioned on the second conveyor 40 at the swapping position PI on to the third conveyor 60, and simultaneously transferring at least one full container 100 that is positioned on the first conveyor 30 at the swapping position PI on to the second conveyor 40, to take the place of the empty container 100 transferred on to the third conveyor 60;

- a picking device 70 for transferring the products S from the containers 100 that are positioned at the picking station 50 into packages 200 that advance along the feeding direction Kl.

In a known manner, the packages 200 are fed, in the feeding unit 20, in the form of a band 210 that extends along the direction Kl and is moved along the same direction. On the band 210 there are formed the aforesaid cells 200A and pre-cutting lines 211 along which the band 210 will be cut subsequently to separate the individual packages 200 from the band.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the second conveyor 40 comprises a conveyor belt 41 that is movable along the ring-like path R and has an upper branch 41 A, a lower branch 4 IB and two opposite end portions 41C, 4 ID which connect together the lower branch 4 IB and the upper branch 41 A. The belt 41 is driven by an actuator 42.

The machine 10 comprises a fixed support 43 comprising a lower portion 43B and two opposite end portions 43C, 43D which extend, respectively, along the lower branch 4 IB and the two end portions 41C, 4 ID of the conveyor belt 41, and which are positioned immediately adjacent and opposed to these portions for supporting the containers 100 and keeping them on the conveyor belt 41.

The opposite edges 43’ of the two end portions 43C, 43D of the fixed support 43 delimit an opening 46 lying over the upper branch 41A of the conveyor belt 41. The picking station 50 is defined in the portion of the ring like path R at the opening 46.

The swapping position PI is defined at the upper branch 41A of the conveyor belt 41, preferably in its portion underlying the opening 46 and near the edge 43 ’ of the fixed support 43 that is located farther from the feeding unit 20.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the first conveyor 30 and the third conveyor 60 extend along a direction K2 substantially parallel to the direction Kl, and are configured to transport the containers 100 along the same direction. In particular, the first and third conveyor 30, 60 are aligned with each other along the direction K2 at least in their portions at the swapping position PI, for the reasons that will become apparent below.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the conveyor belt 41 is, on the other hand, orientated so that its two branches 41 A, 4 IB, upper and lower, extend along a direction T that is transverse to the directions Kl, K2.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the swapping unit 80 comprises a member 82 for driving the containers 100, which is operated by an actuator 84 in an alternating movement along the direction K2.

In each forward stroke, in a direction from the first conveyor 30 to the second conveyor 60, the driving member 82 operates to transfer one or more full containers 100, located on the first conveyor 30 at the swapping position PI, on to the second conveyor 40. At the same time, by means of said full containers 100, the driving member 82 acts on the empty containers 100, located on the second conveyor 40 at the swapping position PI, to transfer them on to the third conveyor 30, so as to leave space for the full containers 100.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, advantageously, the number of containers 100 that are transferred to the second conveyor 40 or to the third conveyor 60 in a single stroke of the driving member 82 is more than two, or more preferably more than three. In any case, this number of containers may evidently vary according to the requirements of specific applications.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the conveyor belt 41 is configured to make the containers 100 advance in a compact formation along the whole ring-like path R of the belt 41. The compact formation implies an arrangement of the containers 100 such that the containers transferred in each stroke of the member 82 on to the belt 41 are accumulated and grouped along the ring-like path R, each container preferably being in contact with the adjacent containers. In each position along the ring-like path R, the formation includes a number of containers 100 equal to the number of containers that are transferred by the member 82 in a single stroke.

At the opening 46, the aforesaid formation of containers 100, as a whole, defines a tray 110 characterized by a number of compartments equal to a multiple of the number of compartments of a single container 100. In particular, the tray 110 has a matrix of compartments 100 A characterized by a given number of compartments along the direction T and a given number of compartments along the direction K2; the latter is equal to the number of containers that are transferred by the member 82 in a single stroke.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the picking device 70 is configured to pick the products S from the containers 100 of the tray 110 and to transfer them into the packages 200 fed by the feeding unit 20.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the packaging machine 10 comprises a control unit 90 for controlling the actuator 42 of the conveyor belt 41 and the actuator 84 of the driving member 82. In particular, in one or more preferred embodiments, the control unit 90 is configured to operate the conveyor belt 41 in a step movement to operate the driving member 82 during each stoppage of the conveyor belt 41 between one step and the next.

In operation, in each step of the belt 41, a new line of empty containers 100, extending along the direction K2, is brought to the swapping position P I .

Then, during the stoppage of the belt, the driving member 82 operates to replace the line of empty containers 100 with a new line of full containers 100, which are picked from the first conveyor member 30.

The full containers 100 are then fed by the belt 41 to the picking station 50, where the containers 100 jointly form the tray 110.

At this station, the picking device 70 operates to transfer the products S from the containers 100 of the tray 110 to the packages 200 fed by the feeding unit 20.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the machine 10 comprises at least two picking devices 70, which are preferably “pick-and-place” robots.

In one or more preferred embodiments, such as that illustrated, the number of containers 100 in each line along the direction K2 is equal to the number of adjacent packages 200 along a direction transverse to the feeding direction Kl, in the feeding unit 20.

Preferably, the “pick-and-place” robots 70 operate in a coordinated manner, so that when one of the two robots moves to the packages 200 to transfer the products S into them, the other robot simultaneously moves to the containers 100 to pick new products S.

This mode of operation makes it possible to reduce the cycle times and also to reduce the space occupied by the picking station 50, since the two robots 70 move to the conveyor belt 41 one at a time.

In view of the above, in one or more preferred embodiments, the packaging method described here comprises the following steps:

- by means of the first conveyor 30, moving the full containers 100, coming from the station for loading the products S into the containers 100, to the swapping position PI;

- by means of the second conveyor 40, moving the containers 100, in the compact formation, along the ring-like closed path R which starts and terminates at the swapping position PI, wherein, in the moving step, the containers 100 leave full from the swapping position PI, pass through the picking station 50, and come back empty to the swapping position PI; - by means of the third conveyor 60, moving the empty containers 100 from the swapping position PI to the exit station of the machine;

- by means of the swapping unit 80, transferring one or more empty containers 100, located on the second conveyor 80 at the swapping position PI, on to the third conveyor 60, and simultaneously transferring one or more full containers 100, located on the first conveyor 30 at the swapping position PI, on to the second conveyor 40, to take the place of the empty containers 100 transferred to the third conveyor 60;

- by means of the picking devices 70, transferring the products S in the containers 100 located at the picking station 50 into the packages 200 that advance along a feeding direction Kl.

Clearly, provided that the principle of the invention is retained, the details of construction and forms of embodiment can be varied, even to a significant degree, from what has been illustrated herein purely by way of non-limiting example, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the attached claims.